The Leader
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Real Name: Samuel Sterns
First Appearance: hidden:Tales to Astonish #62
official: Tales to Astonish #63
Origin: Tales to Astonish #63
Powers/Abilities: The Leader has greatly enhanced mental capacities
due to the exposure to gamma radiation. He intelligence level is on
par with Reed Richards. The Leader has shown expertise in robotics,
genetics, and many other fields. He can project mental blasts to incapacitate
oppenents although it has not been determined if the blasts are real
or just projections into the person's mind. He can create mental projections
in the minds of oppenents. The original Leader could take mental control
of people for a limited area near him but after the second transformation
into the Leader, he could control people over long distances although
he had trouble controlling people who had been exposed to gamma radiation.
After the second transformation, he also had a mental link with Rick
Jones, although it is unclear if that link is still present.
Artist Representation Gallery
Origin: Samuel Sterns was a factory worker at a chemical research
plant. While moving waste material in teh sub-cellar, an experimental
gamma ray explodes, exposing him to extremely high doses of gamma
radiation for approximately one minute. After the bombardment, there
was no physical change, but he did have a large craving to read everything
he could. Every bit of knowledge he read, he retained. He eventually
passed out and when he came to, he had transformed into the Leader.
Using his knowledge, he first set up a spy network to gain/steal more
knowledge and to take over governments. Given the length of time it
would need to set up a spy network and the first meeting of the Hulk
and Leader, it is possible that the Leader came into existence before
the Hulk.
GREAT MOMENTS IN HISTORY
Tales to Astonish #62: The Leader's spy at the Gamma Base doesn't
report back, so he hires the Chameleon to go there and check it out.
The Chameleon, disguised as Bruce Banner at one point, is defeated
by the Hulk. The last panel shows the Leader working on his next creation,
a humanoid.
Tales to Astonish #63: Determined to steal Bruce's nuclear
secrets, the Leader created an artifical being called a humanoid to
accomplish the tast. The Humanoid is pliable enough to take punches
and artillery shells yet strong enough to bend steel. Using a special
designed head piece, the Leader can control the Humanoid from afar.
The Humanoid goes to the base and with a built-in camera, the Leader
is able to see the Hulk for the first time. He wonders if with his
green skin and incredible strength, if he was also the result of gamma
rays. The Hulk defeats the Humanoid, incurring the Leader's wrath
ans setting up on of the biggest hero vs villian matchups of the Marvel
Universe.
Tales to Astonish #64: Still determined to get Bruce's invention,
a Nuclear Absorbatron, which is capable of making an H-bomb harmless.
The Leader sends a whole army of Humanoids to steal it. The Humanoids
run into the Hulk and go after him since the Leader has a great interest
in the Hulk. The Hulk hits them, slams them into walls, and even throws
things at them but still cannot defeat them as they pile on him.
Tales to Astonish #65: The Hulk and Humanoids are thrown into
the water as soldiers attack them. The Hulk swims away, changing into
Bruce Banner and is then kidnapped by Communists.
Tales to Astonish #66: The Leader confronts the Communist leader,
stating that he knows they have kidnapped Bruce Banner and that the
Hulk has been spotted there also. The Leader decides to wait and observe
what happens, knowing that Bruce and the Hulk will eventually escape
from the Communists.
Tales to Astonish #68: The Leader shrinks down an army of Humanoids
to microscopic size and drops them on the island with Bruce's Absorbatron
on it. The Humanoids attack everybody, including Bruce who changes
into the Hulk. Two Humanoids with gas inside them grab the Hulk and
knock him out.
Tales to Astonish #69: The Leader comes to the military island
and uses a magnetic-attractor beam to carry back the Absorbatron and
still unconscious Hulk back to his secret base. The Leader examines
the Hulk, but his skin is too tough for his devices to penetrate.
While the Leader is elsewhere looking for better equipment, the Hulk
reverts back to Bruce. He manages to send a signal to Gen. Ross, letting
him know where he is. When the Leader discovers the Hulk is missing
from the lab table, he floods the sealed room with more sleeping gas.
Bruce changes into the Hulk, attacks the Leader, and destroys the
Absorbatron. The Leader manages to escape before the army gets him.
Tales to Astonish #70: The Leader unleashes a 500 foot Humanoid
against the missile base. The Hulk battles the Humanoid but can not
defeat him. Gen. Ross decides to fires the "Sunday Punch," a super
missile capable of disintegrating anything.
Tales to Astonish #71: The missile doesn't disintegrate the
giant Humanoid but it does disable it. Before the military can get
their hands on it, the Leader hits the self-destruct button. Later,
the military has the Hulk trapped in a cave. The Leader appears to
the Hulk via a Projecto-image and offers to help the Hulk escape only
if the Hulk swears to serve him.
Tales to Astonish #72: The Hulk agrees to let the Leader transport
him, via Electro-waves, to his secret lab in Italy. The Leader shows
the Hulk around the lab but also knocks him out with a powerful odorless
gas. The Hulk comes to before the Leader expected and starts to destroy
equipment but is attacked by Humanoids.
Tales to Astonish #73: The Leader's Humanoids defeat the Hulk,
due in part to a bullet being lodged in the Hulk's brain. The Leader
takes the unconscious Hulk and X-rays his brain. He uses a gamma-based
laser to dissolve the bullet, thus saving his life. Being indebt to
the Leader, the Hulk allows himself to be subjected to the Leader's
test. Months earlier, the Leader discovered a Watcher on the moon
and had a camera follow him as he went from planet to planet and eventually
to the Watcher's planet. The Leader wants to send the Hulk to the
planet to steal scientific equipment. The Hulk is transported to the
planet via as a thought wave. He is about to grap the Ultimate Machine
when he gets hit by another creature. The Leader then lets the Hulk
know that another world has sent a champion to get the same object.
Tales to Astonish #74: After defeating the Champion,Qnax,
the Hulk grabs the Ultimate Machine and the Leader transports him
back to earth. The machine contains all the knowledge of the known
universe. The Leader puts it on his head and after receiving too much
information, falls to the floor dead.
The Incredible Hulk #115: After General Ross captured the Hulk,
the Leader bursts in and tells him that he can help keep the Hulk
helpless forever. He explains that when he died previously, a preprogrammed
android activated for the purpose of restoring his life. Due to the
gamma radiation, the Leader was able to survive a heart attack for
several minutes. The Humanoid put the Leader under a revivor-beam
and brought him back to life. General Ross agrees to let the Leader
help. Meanwhile, the Hulk awakens but is brought down by a neutralizing
gun. The Leader has the soldiers put the Hulk ina living cage and
seals him in. The Hulk awakens again but is unable to break through
the rubber-like walls. The Leader than tells the Hulk that the only
reason he has sealed him in was to prevent him from interfering with
the Leader's plans.
The Incredible Hulk #116: The Leader brings a super Humanoid
to help "guard" the Hulk but his real plan is to take control of the
base and its' missiles to help start WWIII. Betty overhears the Leader
and warns Major Glenn Talbot but General Ross doesn't believe them.
Major Talbot goes against the General's order and orders the soldiers
to apprehend the Leader. The super Humanoid makes short work of the
soldiers. The Leader uses mental force fields and mental blasts to
defend himself. The Leader then concentrates his mental force over
the base and knocks everyone out. The Leader gives Betty a special
head device so that she stays conscious. She escapes and frees the
Hulk. The Leader uses a gun and encases the Hulk's body in the same
Plasti-then that the cage was made from.
The Incredible Hulk #117: The Leader launches a missile to
start WWIII. The Hulk actually manages to escape the trap through
sheer will power but the Leader transports him and the super Humanoid
to an island. The Hulk defeats the super Humanoid by throwing him
into a volcano. The Leader escapes when the Hulk comes back to the
base. Betty calms down the Hulk so that he turns back to Bruce to
stop the missiles. Bruce turns back into the Hulk and almost gets
the Leader but the Leader launches another missile. The Hulk stops
the missile but leaping on it. The Leader makes everyone at the base,
except for Betty, forget he was even there.
The Incredible Hulk #123: The Leader steals the Tripodal Observation
Module, or Murder Module, from the army while it is being transported
Bruce Banner and a soldier. The Leader's craft has a menta-disk which
amplifies his mental powers and transforms them into a magnetic power.
Bruce, who has gained control of his transformation into the Hulk
thanks to Reed Richards, makes the transformation to save himself
and the soldier. The Leader gets into the Murder Module and attacks
the Hulk. The Hulk fights back and eventually defeats the Module when
he starts to slip to the more primal Hulk. The Hulk grabs the Leader
and is about to kill him when Bruce regains control. The Leader escapes.
The Incredible Hulk #124: For all the times the Hulk has stopped
the Leader's plans, the Leader decides to get revenge. He decides
to get revenge at Bruce's wedding to Betty Ross. He kidnaps the Rhino,
who the Hulk has defeated previosuly, from a prison hospital and restored
his strength and powers thorugh the use of mental bolts. The Leader
and Rhino hide outside of the building where
Betty and Bruce are getting married. Right before the marriage is
official, the Leader shoots Bruce with a ray that turns him into the
Hulk. He calculated the amount of exposure needed so that Bruce's
mind whould not be in control. The Leader needed another shot to turn
the Hulk completely savage but before he could do that, the Rhino
decided to go after the Hulk. The Hulk and Rhino
fight and the Rhino gets in the way of another
of the Leader's shots. The Rhino gets mad
and goes after the Leader. The Leader takes off in an escape module
but the Rhino grabs on it and it explodes
high in the sky. General Ross is hurt badly during the battle.
The Incredible Hulk #129: While Bruce was walking through the
woods, trying to figure out where he was, the Leader was following
him and then disappears. A short time later, a man named Sam Sterns
drives by and picks up Bruce. Sam doesn't know how he got where he
was at. The two of them sit and talk over coffee and dinner. Sam asks
Bruce if he has ever had any friends and Bruce mentions a few and
talks about the Glob, who he mentions was
probably as strong as the Hulk. Just then, Sam gets a headache and
runs out. WHen he gets out of sight, he turns into the Leader. He
had a plan to find out the Hulks weakness from Bruce himself so he
reverted himself back to human to get Bruce to trust him. The Leader
takes his ship to the Everglades and submits the water to radioactive
rays, making the Glob come back to life.
The Leader puts a mental image into the mind of the Glob,
making him think that the Hulk is menacing a friend of the Glob.
The Hulk eventually defeats the Glob, frustrating
the Leader once again.
The Incredible Hulk #139: The Leader, knowing that even he
alone cannot defeat the Hulk, so he figures that if the Hulk fought
all his greatests foes at once, he might have a heart attack. He contacts
Major Talbot to help him who in turn convinces General Ross. They
let the Leader use the Brain-wave Booster which amplifies human brain
waves into three dimensional objects. They find the Hulk and the Leader
projects images of some classic Hulk foes like the Rhino,
Xeron, Sub-Mariner, the Missing Link, Night-crawler, Mandarin, Sandman,
and the Glob. General Ross and Major Talbot
decide to stop the Leader, but he paralyzes them with a mental blast.
Jim Wilson sneaks onto the base and damages
the equipment for the Brain-wave Booster. This manages to reverse
the machine causing the Leader to see the thing he fears the most,
namely the Hulk. He sees Hulks everywhere he goes until he finally
goes into a vegatative state.
The Incredible Hulk #146: The Leader replaces General Ross
and many other military people with android replacements and also
disguises himself as Major Talbot. He kidnaps Jim
Wilson and tells everyone that android replacements of the President
and Vice-President will kill the Hulk.
The Incredible Hulk #147: The "fake" Ross uses a sonic disruptor
provided by the Leader to subdue the Hulk when he reaches the base.
"Ross" talks with the Leader about switching the President and Vice-President
wht the fakes but Betty walks in and realizes it's not really her
father and he knocks her out. The Hulk shakes off the effects of disruptor
and goes and destroys the Ross robot. Suddenly, thousands of androids
come out and form a giant controlled by the Leader. The andorid shoots
the Hulk with gamma rays in hopes of overdosing him but Doc Samson
redirects a shot back at the giant android causing feedback in the
control room and it all blows up in the Leader's face and he apparently
dies.
The Incredible Hulk #157: During the last battle with the Hulk,
the Leader was left paralyzed. He escaped in his satellite, called
Omnivac, which was also damaged and could not repair the Leader's
body. To get revenge against the Hulk, the Leader takes over the body
of the comatose Rhino. The Leader-controlled
Rhino comes across Bruce and Jim
Wilson. The Leader-Rhino tells them that
he is going to the wedding of Betty Ross and Major Talbot to cause
a confrontation with the Hulk. He hits Jim when Jim tries to stop
him and causes Bruce to turn into the Hulk. The Hulk and Leader-Rhino
fight but the Leader-Rhino jump on a ship
to get away. The Hulk leaps after him and manages to grab onto the
ship.
The Incredible Hulk #158: The ship with the Hulk and Rhino
heads off into space towards the Omnivac ship. The Leader releases
control of the Rhino and sends the ship out
into space, to get rid of both the Hulk and the Rhino.
The Hulk and Rhino make it to Counter-Earth.
Later, the Leader sees where his ship is and decides to call it back
and leave the Hulk and Rhino stranded but
the Hulk and a defeated Rhino make it aboard
the ship and head back to earth.
The Incredible Hulk #159: The Leader tries to keep control
of the ship, but Bruce manages to overpower the Leader's willpower
by using manual control and gets the ship far away from him.
Marvel Feature #11: Kurrgo, an alien the Fantastic Four have
fought before, comes to Earth to ge the strongest person to use in
his plans for revenge, the strongest being the Hulk. The still-paralyzed
Leader interfers, saying he has rights to the Hulk. The two decide
to have a fight between champions. Kurrgo chooses the battle-experienced
Thing while the Leader chooses the Hulk, of course. The winner gets
the use of both the Hulk and Thing plus the scientific knowledge of
the loser. Kurrgo and the Leader kidnap the Thing and Hulk and put
them in an abandoned town and set them up to fight each other over
a fake bomb. Unknown to anybody, Kurrgo ups the Thing's strength through
cosmic radiation. After many fights, the Thing reaches the fake bomb
which causes the plan to fall apart so the Thing and Hulk are transported
up into the ship Kurrgo and the Leader are using. A fight begins and
the Hulk and Thing escape before the ship explodes.
The Incredible Hulk #208: A blond man staggers out of the desert
and collapses in front of Doc Samson at the Gamma Base.
The Incredible Hulk #209: The blond man wakes up at Gamma Base
and doesn't remember who he is or where he is.
The Incredible Hulk #213: The amnesiac man finds himself drawn
to scientific equipment at Gamma Base but doesn't know why. Doc Samson
promises to try to help him regain his memory.
The Incredible Hulk #221: The amnesiac man, while in an apparent
trance, locks himself into one of the labs and pushes a button on
one of the pieces of equipment.
The Incredible Hulk #223: Doc Samson and General Ross along
with some soldiers determine that the mystery-person is in the locked
lab. Doc Samson opens the door and is about to go in when a blast
hits him. The soldiers rush in and get looked in and get attacked
mentally. Doc Samson rips the door off and he and General Ross find
the soldiers standing motionless. The Leader is in the shadows saying
that it was easy to revert himself to human form and get into the
base. Later, Bruce arrives at the base and is shown to a room by emotionless
soldiers where the Leader has Doc Samson and General Ross prisoners.
The Incredible Hulk #224: The Leader does tests on Bruce and
finds out that he can no longer change in to the Hulk. He explains
that before Kurrgo's ship exploded, he activated his electro-wave
matter transporter and sent himself back to his secret lab where he
could still not cure his paralysis. Instead, he used his mental powers
to revert himself back to human form. Humanoids dropped the amnesiac
human form near Gamma Base where the Leader's subconscious made himself
expose himself t othe right gamma radiation to be restored to the
Leader, now able to move. Doc Samson gets lose but the Leader has
put a subliminal command to prevent any of them from harming him or
leaving the building. Clay Quartermain lands at the base and the Leader
goes to capture him. General Ross and Doc Samson tell Bruce he has
to turn into the Hulk again to stop the Leader. Bruce gets hooked
up to a Gamma Control Harness and the next scene shows the Hulk busting
into a room and going after the Leader. The Leader gets into a new
Murder Module and attacks the Hulk. The Hulk jumps on top of the Module
and the Leader realizes it's not really the Hulk but a robot. He destroys
the robot which causes feedback into Bruce, who was controlling the
robot, which kills him.
The Incredible Hulk #225: The Leader starts to take over all
the world's information and communications systems. He then starts
to transport Humanoids to the base. Meanwhile, Doc Samson and General
Ross expose the deceased Bruce to gamma rays which brings him to life
in the form of the Hulk. Doc Samson tricks the Hulk into punching
him out of the building where the two of them fight and defeat Humanoids.
They reach the Leader but Doc Samson still can't fight him. The Leader
has kinetron mitts which reflect the kinetic energy back at the person
attacking him. But the Hulk eventually does the impossible and rips
the mitts off the Leader's hands. The Leader tells Omnivac to transport
him out but the discharge from the damaged mitts causes him to disintegrate
during the transportation.
The Incredible Hulk Annual #11: The story starts off with Bruce
strapped to a chair, forcing himself to look at various pictures in
hopes that the Hulk can understand. A woman, Rikky, bursts in, saying
that they are only trying to help him but Bruce says that they are
not. He turns into the Hulk and is attacked by Humanoids. The Leader
steps out and tells the Hulk to stop. The Hulk sees pictures in his
head and crashes through a wall. He was actually on Omnivac and falls
to earth. The Leader says to himself that the Hulk has already served
his purpose. Days later, people in New York are turning green, getting
sick and eventually going into a coma. No one, not even Mr. Fantastic,
Don Blake(Thor), or Spider-Man can determine the cause of the Green
Flu. Spider-man does notice that blood samples show gamma radiation
and asks for a sample of blood from the Hulk when he runs into him.
The flu-sickened Spider-man is unable to stop the Hulk, who talks
about finding water. In his mind, the Hulk sees Rikky, an old school
friend, find Bruce and tell him that she and another person want to
help him. After going through some tests and getting a blood sample,
the Leader steps out and reveals himself to be the other person Rikky
was refering to. Bruce tries to convince Rikky that the Leader is
evil but she has been duped by the Leader. Spider-man collapses fron
the flu and the Hulk wanders off, still looking for the "water." He
flashes back to before when Bruce escaped from a lab table but the
Leader finds him and reveals that he is going to use a virus derived
from Bruce's gamma-irradiated blood and put it into the water to help
conquer the world. Bruce promises to make the Hulk understand what
is going on so that he can stop the Leader. The Avengers, trying to
determine if there is a connection between the Hulk and the Green
Flu, confront and attack him but the Hulk is able to defeat him. Meanwhile,
at the Leader's lab, Rikky transforms into a form similar to the Leader.
The Leader than tells her of his plans to turn all the people on earth
into either mindless Hulk-like creatures, Abomination-like creatures
to be used as shock troops, or intelligent Leader-like people and
of course have himself set up as the Leader of them all. The Hulk
digs into the sewers, looking for the "water" with the Avengers behind
him. The Hulk finds equipment pumping the virus into the city water
and he along with the Avengers try to destroy it. Humanoids come out
and fight them. Rikky used her new-found powers to telekinetically
destroy some of the Leader's equipment and stopping the Humanoids,
much to the Leader's surprise. The Leader shots Rikky saying he was
defeated by someone he was foolish enough to love. The Hulk thinks
that the Leader murdered her and jumps after him. The Leader say he
just shot he with an anitdote as he falls back into the gamma-irradiated
water and gets washed away. Rikky returns back to normal and the Avengers
are able to duplicate the antidote and save everybody.
The Incredible Hulk #278: Bereet casts out of her spaceship
some of her equipment that was damaged during the battle with the
U-Foes. The Leader, aboard Omnivac, takes
on fo the objects. Omnivac analyzes it ato be a visual-stimulater,
able to create three dimensional objects out of what it has seen.
The Leader orders Omnivac to repair it. During a gathering at the
White House to grant the now Bruce Banner-in-control Hulk amnesty,
attended by a multitude of heroes, aliens attack which are just 3D
objects projected by the Leader. All the heroes help in the battle
and at the end, all the ships disappear. The Hulk is celebrated as
a hero. Jackdaw, on the the Leader's helpers, wonders why the Leader
would do something that would make the Hulk a hero. The Leader replys
that the world and the Hulk will soon know.
The Incredible Hulk #279: The Leader watches a celebration
of the newly accepted Hulk and says to himself that soon the Hulk
will find out why he has manipulated recent events.
The Incredible Hulk #280: Jackdaw drops off a large amount
of minaturized Humanoids on the balcony of Bruce's penthouse apartment
and then returns to Omnivac and the Leader. When Bruce and Berett
come back from dinner to the room to see how Rick is doing, the Humanoids
come to life and attack. Bruce changes into the Hulk and fights them.
The Humanoids manage to kidnap Bereet and Rick Jones and transport
them away. The Leader uses a holo-projection of himself onto one of
the Humanoid's heads and dares him to rescue his friends aboard the
Omnivac ship currently in space. It's all just a test to see how well
an opponent the new-intelligent Hulk is.
The Incredible Hulk #281: The Hulk borrows an Avengers Quinjet
and flies out into space to rescue his friends. He beats the Leader's
space defenses but before he makes it to Omnivac, a horde of Humanoids
come out into space and break into the ship. While fighting, they
also break his helmet and the Hulk loses consciousness before making
it to safety. The Leader commands the Humanoids to bring the Hulk
in. The Hulk awakes at a dinner table with the Leader, Rick, and Bereet.
The Leader explains how he has been testing the new intelligent Hulk.
He then offers the Hulk to help him in conquering the world. The Hulk
refuses and fights the Humanoids. The new Hulk can't reason a way
to defeat them and eventually reverts back to Bruce Banner form due
to exhaustion. The Leader transports Bruce, Rick, and Bereet back
to Earth, feeling that an intelligent Hulk is nothing to fear.
The Incredible Hulk #282: The Leader is shown before organ
pipes working on mathematical equations and calculations. Bruce goes
to the Avengers mansion and uses their equipment to track down the
Leader's ship. The Hulk and Avengers decide to go after him.
The Incredible Hulk #283: The Avengers and Hulk take off in
a Quinjet to take on teh Leader at his Omnivac ship. They get there
and battle hundreds of Humanoids in space but are unable to defeat
them until Captain Marvel turns into infrared energy and burns away
the outer membrane of the Humanoids, allowing them to be destroyed.
They get aboard the ship and a humanoid representation of Omnivac
greets them. He leads them to a dinner table and plays strange music
on the pipe organ. Jackdaw stumbles out, beaten and bruised, apparently
by Omnivac. Omnivac tells of the Leader's plan to go back into time
and expose the entire Earth to only gamma rays to create a new breed
of mankind where his intelligence will rule. Jackdaw tells how she
tried to stop the Leader but was beaten for it and she watched the
Leader transport himself back in time. The Hulk shakes Omnivac to
try and get some information. Just then, all the Avengers disappear
except the Hulk and She-Hulk, spread throughout time to prevent htem
from interring with the Leader's plans. A flaw in the Leader's plan
was that to prevent himself from falling victim to his own trap, he
made it so that gamma-irradiated being would not be transported, thus
allowing the Hulk and She-Hulk to stay behind.
The Incredible Hulk #284: The Hulk and She-Hulk stumble across
the Leader's time machine. They threaten to destroy Omnivac piece
by piece unless he tells them how to operate it. He points to the
organ. The Hulk is able to understand the Leaders complex calculations
and initializes the time machine. The Hulk and She-Hulk pick up Captain
America in WW II, Hawkeye and Iron Man at King Arthur's court, and
Thor during Norse times. They then go all the way back to the beginning
of time where the Leader has the Wasp and Captain Marvel in his control.
He has Captain Marvel emitting large amounts of gamma rays everywhere.
They attack the Leader who is thrown off-balance and falls down into
a volcano into lava. The Avengers get transported back to the current
time thanks to Jackdaw who stopped Omnivac from wrecking the time
machine.
The Incredible Hulk #331: A call is made to the local city
morgue from Gamma Base to pick up the deceased body of General Ross.
Given the late hour of the call, the manager is forced to have the
employee named Sterns to go help, even though the guy gives everyone
the creeps. While at Gamma Base retrieving the body, Sterns accidently
bumps into Bruce. He gets caught by his boss muttering to himself
about Banner. They load the body and Sterns gets in to drive. His
boss notices that he is going in the wrong direction and Sterns takes
a wrench and knock him unconscious. To help capture Rick Jones, who
has turned into a Hulk-like creature, Bruce exposes himself to gamma
rays although he discovers too late that the idea to change was the
influence of the Grey Hulk, who is now
in charge. The Hulk then smashes the equipment. Sterns, who followed
Bruce to the cave with the secret equipment, comes out running and
yelling at the Hulk that he ruined his one chance at salvation. The
Hulk grabs him and threatens to kill him but then Sterns admits that
he used to be the Leader. The Leader then tells the Hulk that if he
helps him, he will help the Hulk get rid of Banner and Rick Jones.
The Incredible Hulk #332: The Hulk trashes more of the machinery
but Sterns talks him out of it. He explains that he didn't realize
that lapses in concentration was his genius wearing off. By the time
he realized it, it was too late and he had lost too much intelligence
to figure out how to reverse it. He eventually reverted to human and
one day forgot the code to get back into his secret lab. He eventually
had to live on the streets, doing whatever he could to make money.
He eventually decided to head west to ask Bruce Banner for help, though
doing so would be humiliating. That night, the Hulk attacks the Rick-Hulk
and leads him back to the secret cave. When the Hulk runs in, Sterns
is strapped to some equipment. Rick-Hulk charges in and the Hulk shoots
him with a ray which converts the gamma radiation from Rick-Hulk to
Sterns. Sterns feels the transfer working but it isn't like before
and he transforms into something different and yells at the Hulk to
stop the transfer. The equipment surges and the cave blows up.
The Incredible Hulk #333: During a stay at prison, Bruce dreams
about Sterns ( the Leader) explaing about Bruce's transformations
into the Hulk. Due to the fact that the gamma bomb exploded outside,
the suns radiation interacts with the gamma rays to passify them.
When the sun disappears, that's when the Hulk can appear. The Hulk
that was present during the day did not have an attitude like the
Grey Hulk but just wanted to be left alone.
The more full the moon is, the less dominant and powerful the Hulk
persona will be.
The Incredible Hulk #341: Right before a news conference to
explain the destruction of the Gamma Base, the Leader, in disguise,
bumps into and touches Laroquette,
Saunders, and Trump of the Hulkbusters
and puts them under his control.
The Incredible Hulk #342: The issue starts off with the Leader
making a tape for the Hulk's edification. He talks about designing
a new agent to steal a gamma bomb for him. Half-life says that he
could do it. He attaches a camera to him and sends him off. He then
explains that when the gamma radiation was transfered from Rick Jones
to him, it established a psychic link. The link doesn't allow him
to control him like he can do to others, but it does allow him to
know where he is and what he is thinking and doing. Half-life runs
into the Hulk and they battle. The Leader goes on to describe how
he kidnapped Betty Ross as part of the game he is playing with the
Hulk. The Hulk defeats Half-life. The Leader continues that he knew
that Half-Life would fail and that if he wanted to, he could kill
Bruce Banner at any time but it has to be the Hulk that is defeated,
since that is the one who has defeated the Leader time and time again.
It shows Betty, Laroquette and Saunders
in statis tubes and the Leader realizes that Betty is pregnant.
The Incredible Hulk #343: Bruce, Rick, and Clay Quartermain
run into Betty running through the woods from robots. The Hulk fights
them and defeats them, getting Betty back. The Leader states to his
new help, Loraquette as Rock and Saunders
as Redeemer that he released Betty
to slow the progess down of the Bruce and his group of finding the
gamma bombs stored by the government. The Leader states that his two
new helpers will steal a gamma bomb and also kill the Hulk. Laroquette
is in encased in some rock-type material and Saunders is in armor.
The Incredible Hulk #344: Rock
and Redeemer break into a military
base to steal a gamma bomb. The Leader explains that he is not using
the Humanoids to steal it because everyone assumes the Leader is dead
and everyone will know the truth if he were to use them. The Leader
watches Rock and Redeemer
making progress unaware that someone is watching him also. Rock
and Redeemer kill practically everyone
on the base and manage to get to the bombs.
The Incredible Hulk #345: In the town of Middletown, the Leader
sabotages the local paper so that nobody in town knows about the stolen
gamma bom and the military base. He then sabotages the radio signals
so that nobody could hear about the stolen bombs. He also pays townspeople
to bury small boxes around the outer vicinity of the city. Rock
and Redeemer practice on a robot Hulk
and the Leader lies to them saying that he would take them out of
their suits once the task is done. The Leader then gets on the radio
and talks to Bruce, Betty, Rick, and Clay in their truck saying that
he has planted the stolen bomb in Middletown and it will detonate
at 10:00 pm unless they find it. They try to convince the townspeople
but since nobody has heard about the bomb, nobody believes them. During
a chase by the police, Bruce turns into the Hulk and takes Rick, Betty,
and Clay outside city limits before going back. The Hulk finds the
building the bomb is in and plays the tape the Leader made a few issues
before. Rock and Redeemer
attack but the Hulk defeats them. He even causes Rock
to accidently kill Redeemer. He tries
to beat the information about the bomb out of Rock
but before he does, the Leader matter-transports himself there beside
the bomb. The Leader makes himself grow large and starts to beat the
Hulk but the Hulk realizes it's just a mind trick. Just then, Rock
manages to turn into a sharp point and ram himself through the Hulk's
chest from behind. The Leader then takes Rock
and the dead Redeemer and transports
away. The severely wounded Hulk manages to drag himself towards the
bomb. The Leader than activates a generator around the city which
is what the men were burying outside around the city. The Hulk makes
it to the bomb with more than two hours left the Leader explodes the
bomb early.
The Incredible Hulk #346: Five people survived the gamma bomb
at Middletown. During transfer of the five people by the military,
the General, who was under the control of the Leader, takes the vehicle
to where the Leader is. The Leader leaves the two military people
on the side of the road and takes them away to start his new race,
unaware that the Hulk was not really destroyed in the bomb.
The Incredible Hulk #366: The Leader is seen observing Madman,
who in turn is watching the Hulk. Later, the Leader transports the
Hulk to his hidden base. Rock and
Redeemer fight him as to the Riot
Squad, who are comprised of some of the survivors of the gamma
bomb in Middletown. The Hulk is so weakened by the poison that he
can not keep up. The Leader stops the fight and says that he will
show the Hulk where Betty Banner is if he kills Madman,
who the Leader says he is scared of also.
The Incredible Hulk #367: The Hulk is sitting in a chair, in
a comatose state, as the Leader and his followers look at him. When
they leave, figuring the Hulk has given up, the Hulk goes over to
the Leader's computer and tries to break in. While trying to figure
out the password, he figures out that the Leader is connected to Phil
Sterns and Madman. When the Leader comes
back in, the Hulk jumps at him and threatens to kill him unless he
explains. The Leader says that Phil Sterns is being used by Madman
and that if the Leader went against Madman, then Madman would use
Phil as a hostage. The Leader then transports the Hulk to Madman's
house. What the Leader didn't tell the Hulk is that Phil Sterns is
>A HREF="madman.html">Madman.
The Incredible Hulk #397: The Hulk and Pantheon battle the
U-Foes at the Pantheon's fortress and the
U-Foes make it to Agamemnon's secret room.
The Leader pops in with the Riot Squad,
saying that he hired the U-Foes to break
in so that the Leader could have a talk with Agamemnon.
The Incredible Hulk #398: While the U-Foes
and Riot Squad fight the Hulk and Pantheon
members, the Leader transports himself down to where Agamemnon is.
Agamemnon is surprised that the Leader did not bring more people to
attack him but the Leader just says that he came to talk. Right after
the Hulk and Pantheon defeat everybody, Agamemnon transports in and
says to stop all hostilities because he and the Leader have reached
an accord. The Hulk gets mad as Agamemnon just forgets all what the
Leader had done just to get to see him.
The Incredible Hulk #399: Agamemnon says that the Leader is
concerned about forces of Hydra threatening innocent people and he
asked Agamemnon if he could use some of the Mount's resources to help
in the defense. Agamemnon says that no one should contradict his decision.
The Hulk jumps at the Leader but the Leader transports himself and
his group away. Later on, the Leader appears before Rick Jones, who
is crushed because Marlo was killed. The Leader, who has a empathic
bond with Rick, has been experiencing the same pain that Rick has
been experiencing. The Leader feels like he has to do something, namely
bring back Marlo to life. He has Redeemer
remove his helmet to show Rick something.
The Incredible Hulk #400: The Leader takes Rick and Marlo's
body to Freehold, a city located inside an iceberg in Alberta, Canada.
There, the Leader has gathered some of the world's greatest scientists
along with sick and dying people. His plan is to form his own society
there and when the rest of the world has destroyed itself, they will
come out and reclaim the world for their own. Redeemer
was actually the re-animated body of General Ross, which the Leader
stole back in issue #331. The Leader explains to Rick that he has
determined the way to bring the soul back to a dead body scientifically
and to basically bring back to life the dead. Rick asks the Leader
to do whatever it takes to bring back Marlo. Meanwhile, Agamemnon
confided in Bruce that he only reached an accord to avoid further
destruction. He tells the Hulk where the Leader is located and says
to go end the bitter feud between the two. While the Leader makes
plans for Marlo to be brought back to life, Hydra forces attack Freehold.
Things don't look good for Freehold until the Hulk arrives, looking
for the Leader. Rick begs the Hulk to help stop Hydra so that the
Leader can bring Marlo to life. The Hulk fights Hydra for a while
until he gets sick of always being used by the Leader, so he goes
after him. He interrupts the process and hits the Leader. Redeemer
tries to shoot the Hulk, but the Hulk puts the Leader in front of
him as a shield, fatally wounding him. Rick gets Marlo out of the
healing chamber but she is in a comatose state. The Leader tries to
crawl into the chamber to heal him, but the Hulk throws the body of
the Redeemer at him and blows it up.
The Incredible Hulk #401: Omnibus,
the Leader's assistant, cons the people of Freehold to elect him the
new leader of the group. Later on, while in an office by himself,
Omnibus laughs out loud, looking like
the old Leader.
The Incredible Hulk #436: At the Army headquaters, the assistant
to Major Matt Talbot, nephew to Major Glenn Talbot, is actually Omnibus
in disguise and has Major Talbot under his control. While there, he
touches the and of a senator and takes control of him, a method strkingly
familiar to that of the Leader. Omnibus
talks to himself, boasting of his plan of controlling people and having
the "Alliance" launch terrorists strikes. He comments about that it
is just a matter of time and then a voice comes from a mirror that
says "Omnibus...shouldn't that be ..my
plan" and in the mirror was the face of the Leader. It should be stated
that it is never clear whether the Leader's mind is actually in Omnibus's
mind or if Omnibus just thinks the Leader
is in there.
Cutting Edge #1: During an experiment with some equipment of
the Ringmaster's, something goes wrong and everyones thoughts and
fears become substance. Omnibus is there
and a giant Leader head with spider legs coming out.
The Incredible Hulk #437: The Alliance, which is really just
Omnibus, destroys planes, boats, and
cars, killing hundreds of people. Meanwhile, a group of people called
the Head Shop promise to help Betty free Bruce from the army. They
are people who were dying of exposure to gamma radiation who went
to the Leaders Freehold. The Leader decapitated them and grafter their
heads onto android bodies. They managed to escape. They want the Hulk's
help to go defeat the Leader (who unbeknownst to them is already dead
or is he). While driving Major Talbot, Omnibus
in disquise, looks in the rear-view mirror of the car and see's the
Leader's reflection and tells the Leader to get out of his head. The
Head Shop attack the army base and free Bruce but during the battle,
a grenade is dropped and Bruce, who thinks he is the Hulk, doesn't
think a little grenade can hurt him, so he jumps on it. It explodes
right in front of him.
The Incredible Hulk #438: Omnibus
comes back to Freehold and kicks Jailbait
and Hotshot out of his lab and looks
into a mirror. He asks the Leader where he is and to say something.
The Hulk tells the Head Shop that the Leader is dead and that he is
going to Freehold to look for equipment to remove grenade fragments
from his head. During his jumping, he goes past Mount Rushmore and
one of the head explodes. The Hulk thinks that it was just an attack
but realizes it was just destruction. Also, a section of the Great
Wall of China is blown up. Omnibus is
shown observing his handy work and then slowly takes on the facial
features of the Leader.
The Incredible Hulk #439: The Hulk makes it to near Freehold
and is attacked by Ogress and Hotshot.
The Hulk threatens to break Ogress in two if Hotshot
does not take him below to the secret base. A Humanoid is seen sitting
outside the World Trade Center. At Freehold, Jailbait
hides under a desk when Omnibus comes
into the lab. She hears him talking about his Alliance dealings. Omnibus
blows up a barrier in New York allowing flooding the Wall Street Discrict
and blows up a section of the White House. The Hulk talks to Omnibus
to bring the X-ray equipment. Omnibus
tells the Hulk that he does not know where the equipment is that the
Leader used to remove bullet shrapnel from the Hulk's head a long
time ago and says he doesn't know if he could reproduce it. He then
tells the Hulk that he can stay at Freehold while the world blows
itself up and then proceeds to show the Hulk some of the damage done
around the world, not telling him that he did it of course. The Hulk
can't believe it and sees the Maestro's predictions coming true. He
decides he has to do something to bring the world into focus on one
person, namely him. The Hulk changes his appearance to look more like
the Hulk and destorys the rest of Mount Rushmore and tells the world
that he is behind the Alliance.
The Incredible Hulk #440: Hotshot
and some more people from Freehold confront Omnibus
and accuse him of being the Alliance. He decide to take Omnibus
down.
The Incredible Hulk #441: Omnibus
is brought to trial in front of a jury comprised of citizens of Freehold
under the charge of masterminding the Alliance terrorists actions.
Omnibus says that only he has the vision
to see the truth and to define what morality is. He is found guilty.
Hotshot tells Omnibus
they are going to execute him.
The Incredible Hulk #442: Omnibus
is taken aboard a plane near the Artic Circle and is stripped except
for pants and told he will be abandoned there. Omnibus
pleads that it was the Leader behind the terrorism and that the Leader's
mind jumped into him before he died. Then the Leader takes control
of Omnibus's body and tells everyone
on the plane that the Leader has returned and that he demands their
full obediance and loyalty. They throw him out the plane. The last
scene is Omnibus/Leader coming face to
face with a polar bear.
The Incredible Hulk #30: Within Bruce's mind, he finds a voice
calling to him and the Professor Hulk has the same feeling. It draws
him to the New Mexico desert to a cave. Inside he finds mutated creatures
carrying mechanical items to the back of the cave. The Hulk walks
back and finds a very mutated Leader, still alive.
The Incredible Hulk #31: The Hulk stands before the Leader
and asks if it is really him. The Leader gives him a very metaphysical
answer which the Hulk takes for a yes. When the Hulk asks how he came
to be this way, the Leader shows him in his mind. They go back to
Freehold where the Hulk had killed the Leader during their last confrontation.
You see and feel what the Leader experienced next where he seems to
float for an eternity until he heard something calling him to become
one with it. The Leader then describes how he rebuilt himself slowly
with the cells of dead animals and plant life and created drones to
get more parts and substenance. He states that he is trying to build
a body strong enough to join the vision he experienced before. The
Hulk finally asks what the Leader wants from him and the Leader states
that he wants nothing from him. The Hulk figures this is just one
more of the Leader's trap where the Leader proceeds to mentally throw
the Hulk against a wall and tell him he could kill him at any moment
but would not since he has become enlightened. The Hulk then asks
what he is doing there. The Leader says that he did not call him,
but rather Bruce Banner. The Leader than explains how he knows exactly
what the Hulk has gone through in the past few months with the "Professor"
personality and the disease. The Hulk tells the Leader that if he
changes back to Bruce, Bruce would die. The Leader then tells the
Hulk he knows how to cure his disease. The Leader gives the Hulk a
bio-mechanical helmet, telling him it will continually rejuvenate
the motor nerve cells in Bruce's brain stem but it is only temporary
as the disease would eventually mutate. He will only give the final
cure to Bruce. The Hulk puts on the Helmet and reverts back to Bruce,
who still lives. Bruce asks why the Leader would do this and the Leader
explains that they are "children of the dawn of the gamma age." Bruce
immediately thinks that if the Leader can do this, he can bring Betty
back but the Leader says he can not...yet. The Leader points to a
box which has the information to cure Bruce but before Bruce can leave,
he must return the favor. The Leader says that he is nearly completion
on his body and that he will soon transfer to a state of pure consciousness
and he wants Bruce to stay and be a witness since they share a bond.
Bruce asks if he really wants him there because he is scared and the
Leader finally admits he might be so Bruce stays. The Leader starts
his transference and says he sees something beautiful but then it
turns to fear. He yells out no and then his body implodes. The cave
caves in and the Hulk comes busting out, with the box in hand and
jumps away. Then, a slightly mutated looking scorpion crawls out of
the hole.
The Incredible Hulk #32: The Leader appears to Bruce in his
mind and tells Bruce he has made a terrible mistake and that he must
help him. He found out what was on the other side and he's afraid.
Before Bruce can even say anything, the Leader disappears.
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